Bells plan for historic church with Wolves links
A famous former city church with historical links to Wolves is set to have its iconic bells refurbished so they can be brought back into use.
The eight bells in the tower at St Luke's Church, in Blakenhall, date back more than 120 years and are only occasionally rung due to their maintenance issues.
Now plans have been put forward to Wolverhampton Council to have them refurbished at a bellfoundry before being returned and put back into use.
The Grade II* listed church, on Moore Street South, closed for worship years ago and was under threat of demolition until it was taken over and transformed into an antiques centre.
It sits next to St Luke’s School, which was the birth place of St Luke’s FC – the club that eventually became Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Simon Linford, from real estate firm Magic Unicorn Ltd, has submitted an application for the scheme to Wolverhampton Council.
He is president of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers and bought the church in 2017 through his firm Czero Developments.
Mr Linford said in a planning statement: "The project is to remove the eight bells at the tower, refurbish the fittings, return them to the tower and rehang with new ball bearing-based gudgeons.
"The bells are only occasionally rung, and regarded by experienced bellringers as extremely difficult to ring due to the plain bearings on which the bells are hung.
"Oiling bearings each time they are rung is dangerous because of the difficult access to the bells – modern bearings removes the need to go into the belfry other than for routine annual maintenance.
"Works will involve raising each individual bell out of its bit, lowering through exising trapdoors in the belfry and ringing chamber floors, removing the current temporary ceiling above the ground floor room, prior to transport to the bellfoundry. On return the process is reversed."
The bells were cast by James Barwell of Birmingham in 1897.
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